Lawmakers, White House discuss sexual assault

Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Chief of Staff, Air Force, right, looks to Michael B. Donley, Secretary of the Air Force, as he testifies during the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on the Air Force Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Request, Wednesday, May 8, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sexual assaults across the military are a growing epidemic. In releasing a massive report Pentagon leaders continued to struggle with how to combat the problem and give victims enough confidence in the system to come forward.

Congressional efforts to combat sexual assault in the military secured the support of the Obama administration as senior White House officials met privately Thursday with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

“I feel that there is positive momentum on this issue.”

Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio

WASHINGTON — Congressional efforts to combat sexual assault in the military secured the support of the Obama administration as senior White House officials met privately Thursday with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

Outrage over the Pentagon's latest estimates on sexual assaults and two recent cases of officers overturning convictions have injected new energy into efforts to rewrite decades-old laws for the military.

"I feel that there is positive momentum on this issue," said Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, a participant in the White House meeting and co-sponsor of legislation.

Valerie Jarrett, President Barack Obama's senior adviser; Tina Tchen, chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama, and other senior officials met Thursday morning with 16 Republicans and Democrats from the House and Senate — 14 female lawmakers and two men, Turner and Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio.

Jarrett chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Tchen is the executive director. Obama has said he has no tolerance for the problem and that the Pentagon must address it head-on.

Several of the lawmakers have been at the forefront on the issue of sexual assault in the uniformed services and have introduced legislation in Congress that suddenly is moving quickly.

"We must strengthen existing laws and policies so that perpetrators face justice and victims can come forward without fear of retribution and with confidence that they will receive the support, care, and justice they deserve," another meeting participant, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said in a statement.

The White House requested the meeting, and lawmakers expressed appreciation for the administration's outreach in what they expect will be a collaborative effort.

"This will be a coordinated response where before we had individual lawmakers — myself and Niki Tsongas working together, individual lawmakers working on solutions," Turner said in an interview.

In its massive report on Tuesday, the Pentagon outlined how sexual assaults across the military are a growing epidemic. Despite various oversight and assistance programs, troubling new numbers estimate that up to 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, according to results of a survey. Of those, fewer than 3,400 reported the incident, and nearly 800 of them simply sought help but declined to file complaints against their alleged attackers.

The statistics emerged against a backdrop of scandals, including an ongoing investigation into more than 30 Air Force instructors for assaults on trainees at a Texas base. And the report comes just days after the Air Force's head of sexual assault prevention was arrested on charges of groping a woman in a Northern Virginia parking lot.

In addition, lawmakers have decried the incident of an Air Force officer overturning a jury's guilty verdict in a sexual assault case.

Turner and Tsongas are proposing stripping an officer's authority to change or dismiss a court-martial conviction in major cases, such as sexual assault. Their bill would also require that an individual found guilty of rape, sexual assault, forcible sodomy and an attempt to commit any of those offenses be either dismissed or dishonorably discharged.

The House Armed Services Committee is expected to include a version of their legislation in next year's sweeping defense policy bill. The panel begins its work later this month and the chairman, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., said Thursday that the committee will take steps to address the issue.

"This week, Americans have been dismayed and outraged at new instances of the persistent and unacceptable problem of sexual assault in the military," McKeon said. "I share their anger and their desire to bring this trend to an end."

Separately, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee pressing them to include a provision in the defense policy bill stripping commanders of the authority to overturn convictions in sexual assault cases.

"We must hold the perpetrators of these horrible acts accountable. Failure to do so would be a betrayal of our national values and of the men and women serving in our military," Reid wrote Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.

Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Ayotte have introduced legislation to provide any victims with a special military lawyer who would assist them throughout the process, prohibit sexual contact between instructors and trainees during and within 30 days of completion of basic training or its equivalent, and ensure that sexual assault response coordinators are available to help members of the National Guard and Reserve.